Maths and science were not my strong points when I was at school, and it really wasn’t for a lack of trying. In fact I know exactly why I grappled with these subjects; I never had a solid foundation, the fundamental principles were lost on me which meant that anything that I tried to learn never really made complete sense to me. Now I’m not saying that I missed my calling as a mathematician or engineer, but I do know that having a firm foundation in these subjects would have made my life a lot easier… I may have even enjoyed them!

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are barely represented by females, and this needs to change, and quickly, if we want our girls to truly be able to be anything that they want. Some quick global stats that you might not know about when it comes to girls and STEM: • Girl’s self confidence in the ability to excel in STEM drops 3.5 times faster from primary to high school than boys. • As a result of girls feeling less and less confident when it comes to STEM, only 23% of STEM jobs are held by women, and even more frightening; only 3% of start-ups pioneered by women get funding. • Research also shows that in South Africa specifically, the male to female graduate ratio is completely out of proportion with less females being represented in both maths and statistics (3:4) and engineering and construction (1:4)

Because of how much I struggled at school and after reading these statistics, I know how important it is to introduce my girls to science, technology, engineering and mathematics as early as possible. The trick though is making it fun and something that they want to get involved in. And this is why I was so happy to discover the Girltivity subscription box.

The boxes were born from a desire to get girls excited about STEM, and to make the process fun for all age groups. Girltivity curates boxes for ages 3-12 which I was thrilled about; the younger that we can get our girls excited about these subjects, the sooner they will get the basics right, the less likely they are to struggle in school later on. Each box contains 10-15 activities to encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematics and they are all age appropriate. The mascot, GT holds personality traits that all girls can aspire to; bravery, fearlessness and the belief that she can do anything she sets her mind to. This is such an amazing message for our girls to see, because even now, in 2019, they are told that they can’t do certain things “because you’re a girl”. I don’t know about you, but I want my girls to grow up knowing that the can achieve their wildest dreams! The pure convenience of Girltivity is something that appeals to me as well – everything comes to your door once a month. All the gizmos and gadgets are in the box (as well as instructions) so you don’t need to run around like a headless chicken trying to put everything together.